Earning cryptocurrency is one thing, but spending it is something else entirely. With most businesses hesitant regarding the usage of cryptocurrency in online and in-person stores alike, it can be difficult to figure out where you can actually put your hard-earned coin to use. That’s not to say there aren’t some opportunities to use cryptocurrency as money though - so let’s look at a few of the most accessible options, shall we?
1. Online Shopping
Starting out with the most obvious application, there exist a number of places to spend cryptocurrency in order to shop for goods. Chief among these are two standouts: Overstock and Purse.io. These two sites function very differently from each other, and cover different types of purchases. Overstock offers all kinds of different furniture, and allows for shoppers to pay for their orders entirely with cryptocurrency.
Purse.io is a different kind of service altogether, designed to allow its users to purchase Amazon goods with bitcoin. This can’t be done directly, but basically, Purse.io lets you create a shopping list based on Amazon’s selection. There’s a bit more to it, but basically bitcoin collectors can then look at said list and supply the Amazon goods in exchange for your bitcoin. Basically, it’s a workaround.
2. Gambling and Betting
Online casino businesses are fast becoming some of the most accepting in the world when it comes to cryptocurrencies. At a glance, this can come as something of a surprise, because they tend to offer so many other payment options. The UK dominates this industry with a whole range of sites advertising acceptance of PayPal, MasterCard, and more. Some of the Canadian gaming sites offer some slot games for free as well, meaning in some cases no payment is required
If anything though, this range of options, from free games to MasterCard deposits, is precisely why gambling and betting sites have become friends to crypto users. The goal at these sites is to make each and every player comfortable, and that manes accepting as many preferred payment methods as possible. So, while it’s not the case at every casino or betting site just yet, you can find more and more of them that list bitcoin or other cryptos among the options.
3. Food
It comes as a surprise to a lot of people, but there are plenty of restaurants that now allow you to buy yourself breakfast, lunch, and dinner with your bitcoin. It might be hard to find them on your own, but thankfully, there’s a website that does all the work of finding those restaurants for you: SpendBitcoins. This site’s restaurant section lists every restaurant around the world that accepts bitcoin (with each selection being confirmed by other site users). Different restaurants handle bitcoin purchases in different ways, but generally speaking you can make use of your cryptocurrency at any of the restaurants the site lists.
4. Games and Goodies
Want to put your bitcoin more towards entertainment? You’re actually covered there, too. Seeing as how the video game industry is more digital in nature these days, there are actually all kinds of gaming and entertainment industries willing to accept bitcoin and the like. Microsoft is leading the pack on this front, with their entire online marketplace allowing cryptocurrency purchases. You can buy games, tech, and more, all through their store. Other marketplaces, like Gamesplanet and Green Man Gaming, accept bitcoin too, but with different (and less mainstream) selections of games.
If gaming isn’t your speed and you’d rather get something a bit more physical, you can also opt for another sort of “workaround” option: gift cards. Websites like Gyft and eGifter allow you to convert your virtual money into gift cards for a variety of different entertainment brands, ultimately making it such that you can buy all kinds of goodies with bitcoin - it’s just a bit indirect.
5. Travel
One of the most useful ways of using your cryptocurrency is by putting it towards travel. It may sound crazy that you’d be able to travel the world using a completely virtual currency, but thanks to companies like CheapAir and Ships and Trips, it’s actually something people are already doing.
CheapAir covers the airfare portion of travel by allowing you to book flights, hotels, and airport transportation, all with the click of a mouse, and all with cryptos. Meanwhile, Ships and Trips pitches total soothing and relaxing vacations, allowing you to make reservations for tours, hotels, or even book cruises with bitcoin.
As you can see, there are all kinds of places where your bitcoin is accepted as payment, if you only know where to look. Travel, entertainment, gambling and more are all at your fingertips now, and all accessible via cryptocurrencies. So, what are you waiting for? Put your cryptocurrencies to work today!